1. Field of Invention
This invention relates generally to a commuter mug and holder assembly adapted to be hitched onto a door of an automobile to supply the driver or an occupant of the vehicle with a hot beverage in the course of travel, and more particularly to an improved assembly which when converted from a sealing mode to a drinking mode prevents the hot beverage from shooting out of the mug as a result of vapor-pressure build-up.
2. Status of Prior Art
A commuter is a person who travels regularly from one place to another, such as from a suburb to a city. During the week, a typical commuter drives daily to work in an automobile from his suburban home to an office or workplace in the city.
Many commuters whose daily trip to work is long and tiring, take along a thermos filled with hot coffee or other stimulating hot beverage. The problem with a thermos bottle is that one cannot drink directly from this thermally-insulated container, but only from its screw-on cap which also functions as a cup. If, therefore, the driver of the vehicle, while holding the steering wheel with one hand, wishes to take a drink of coffee while driving, he cannot do so, for it takes both hands to pour coffee from a thermos into a cup. Moreover, it is difficult in a moving vehicle to drink coffee from an open cup without spilling it.
To make it possible for a commuter to conveniently transport a hot beverage container so that it is securely held in place in the vehicle driven by the commuter, yet is available to him whenever he wishes to drink, there are now commercially available so-called commuter mug and holder assemblies. The mug is usually formed of a double-walled thermally-insulated container for maintaining the beverage in a heated state, the mug being socketed in a holder having a hook that is insertable into the space between the window of the door adjacent the driver's seat and the inner section of the door panel. In this way the mug is suspended from the door and can readily be removed from its holder whenever the driver wishes to drink.
The standard mug for this purpose is provided with a removable lid having a circular wall and a small drinking outlet adjacent one side. The outlet is normally sealed by a flexible shutter mounted on the underside of the lid. The shutter is operated by a spring-biased push rod whose rear end projects through a hole in the wall opposite the outlet and terminates in a push button.
This rod has a ramp-shaped front end so that when the push button is pressed in to advance the rod, its front end then deflects the shutter to open the outlet. Thus the driver, while holding the mug in one hand, can with a finger of this hand, press in the push rod to open the outlet, and with the same hand raise the mug to his lips and drink hot coffee from the open outlet. The advantage of this small mug outlet over an open cup is that in a moving vehicle the hot coffee is confined in the mug and pours out only through the small outlet into the mouth of the driver, thereby avoiding spillage.
The user of a standard mug of this type is instructed to slowly depress the actuator button in order to relieve the vapor pressure before drinking. The reason for the warning is that the hot beverage in the sealed container gives off steam and the resultant vapor-pressure build-up is high. Hence if the small outlet were abruptly opened, the suddenly released pressure would cause the hot beverage to shoot out of the mug and possibly scald the holder of the mug and soil his clothing. By gradually opening the small outlet, the vapor pressure is progressively released and the beverage is not ejected thereby.
Hence commuter mugs of the type heretofore known, though making it possible for commuter to conveniently drink a hot beverage while driving, are somewhat hazardous unless carefully manipulated.
Another drawback of known types of commuter mug holder assemblies is that the holder which sockets the mug and is provided with a hook, does not accommodate the holder to the thickness of the inner section of the door panel onto which the assembly is hitched. When the inner section of the door panel is relatively thick and bulges out, as in some vehicles, the holder hooked thereon will cause the mug socketed in the holder to be angled with respect to the inner section of the door panel and make it difficult to remove the mug from the holder.